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Haggai

 
 

(flourished 6th century BC) One of the 12 Minor Prophets of the Hebrew scriptures, traditional author of the book of Haggai. (His prophecy is part of a larger book, The Twelve, in the Jewish canon.) Born during the Babylonian Exile, he returned to Israel when it ended and helped mobilize the Jewish community to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. His book consists of four prophecies delivered in 521 BC. He attributes the economic distress of the returned exiles to their delay in reconstructing the Temple and promises that the new house of God will be greater than the first.

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Tenth of the 12 Minor Prophets, whose book is included in the Prophets section of the Bible and consists of two chapters and 38 verses. It is built on four prophetic revelations experienced by Haggai during the second regnal year of Darius I of Persia, i.e., 520 BCE. Haggai concerns himself with the construction of the Second Temple, criticizing the delay in rebuilding it and assuring the people that even though it is not as magnificent as Solomon's Temple, it will eventually be so. He also cautions that the Temple cannot confer holiness on a people whose deeds are impure. The final prophecy foretells the imminent toppling of the Persian empire in a civil war.

According to rabbinic tradition, Haggai was the first of three prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) who prophesied in the time of Ezra. When these three died, "the Divine Spirit departed from Israel" (Yoma 9b). Haggai is quoted in the Talmud as the source of various laws (see, for example, Yev. 16a, Kid. 43a, RH 9a). The rabbis wrote that the Book of Haggai was edited by the men of the Great Assembly (BB 21a).


 
Dictionary: Hag·ga·i1   (hăg'ē-ī', hăg'ī') pronunciation
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A Hebrew prophet of the sixth century B.C.

[Hebrew ḥaggay.]


 
Wikipedia: Haggai
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Russian icon of the prophet Haggai, 18th century (Iconostasis of Kizhi monastery, Russia).

Haggai (Hebrew: חַגַּי, Ḥaggay or "Hag-i", Greek: Αγγαίος) was one of the twelve minor prophets and the author of the Book of Haggai. His name means "my feast". He was the first of three prophets (with Zechariah, his contemporary, and Malachi, who lived about one hundred years later), whose ministry belonged to the period of Jewish history which began after the return from captivity in Babylon.

Scarcely anything is known of his personal history. He may have been one of the captives taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. He began his ministry about sixteen years after the return of the Jews to Judah (ca. 520 BCE). The work of rebuilding the temple had been put to a stop through the intrigues of the Samaritans. After having been suspended for eighteen years, the work was resumed through the efforts of Haggai and Zechariah.[1] They exhorted the people, which roused them from their lethargy, and induced them to take advantage of a change in the policy of the Persian government under Darius the Great.

The name Haggai, with various vocalizations, is also found in the Book of Esther, as a eunuch servant of the Queen.

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Liturgical commemoration

On the liturgical calendar followed by the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, Haggai is commemorated as a saint and prophet. His feast day is December 16 (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, December 16 currently falls on December 29 of the modern Gregorian Calendar). He is also commemorated, in common with the other righteous persons of the Old Testament, on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers (the Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord).

Haggai is commemorated with the other Minor prophets in the Calendar of saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 31.

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External links



 
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Encyclopedia of Judaism. The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. Copyright © 1989, 2002 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more
Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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